YOU
HAVE A DAUGHTER BECAUSE...
…she
has a mother. So celebrate
her mother and/or stepmother
this Sunday on Mother’s
Day. And celebrate her
every day that you value
the wonderful experience
of being a dad. Come to
think of it, that’s every
day—including today!
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SEE
JANE: G MOVIES FAIL BOYS
In
G-rated films, males
are half as likely as
females to be parents,
half as likely to be
married or in a relationship,
and much more likely
to be violent. Male
characters of color
are portrayed even more
negatively.
Those
are some key findings
from “G Movies Give
Boys a D: Portraying
Males as Disconnected,
Dominant and Dangerous,”
the new report from
Dads & Daughters’
See
Jane
program, released May
3 at the National Press
Club in Washington,
DC.
“This
narrow portrayal of
males is especially
troubling given society’s
struggle with divorce,
father absence, violence,
and the shortage of
initiatives to adequately
prepare boys and young
men for the opportunities
and responsibilities
of manhood,” according
to DADs President Joe
Kelly.
Academy
Award® winner
and See
Jane
Founder Geena
Davis
says, “I believe that
this report will help
inspire Hollywood to
provide characters and
stories that more reliably
reflect the world our
children live in.”
Alvin
F. Poussaint, M.D.,
Professor of Psychiatry
at
Harvard
Medical
School
and consultant to The
Cosby Show, says,
“The early exposure
of children to less
stereotyped gender roles
will contribute to less
sexism and improved
relationships between
the sexes, as well as
a balanced approach
in rearing male and
female children.”
This
is the second report
stemming from See
Jane-sponsored
research, the most comprehensive
content analysis of
G-rated movies ever
conducted. Read the
entire “G Movies Give
Boys a D” report at
www.SeeJane.org.
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COMMUNICATING IS FUN
DADs
supporter Gary Burns has
developed one of the best
products for fathers and
daughters that we’ve ever
seen. “The Communication
Game: Dads & Daughters
Edition” includes fun
game cards to trigger
hours of fascinating,
enjoyable, and open-ended
conversation.
Here's
how it works:
Dad picks
up a card and reads it—for
example, one card says,
"I'll never forget
the time you..."
Dad then fills in
the blank with his answer
and tells why he answered
the way he did. Then daughter
picks up the next card,
which might read, “My
favorite memory is…” and
gives her response, and
so forth. The cards act
as talking points that
inspire dialogue, especially
during those tough teen
years.
You can
get your own Communication
Game and help support
Dads & Daughters at
the same time.
Visit
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000CQXHP2/ref=sr_11_1/104-9108030-9625528?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
to order your copy today.
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TURN
BEAUTY INSIDE OUT MAY
17
Celebrate Turn Beauty
Inside Out Day with us
on Wednesday, May 17.
TBIO
promotes healthy body
image and expands the
definition of what makes
people beautiful! Find
out more about TBIO
Day and the 2006 TBIO
Girls Leadership Retreat
in New
York City,
June 21-24, 2006 at
www.tbio.org.
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BEST
SEAT IN THE HOUSE
“It’s
been a long time since
I read a book that moved
me this much,” according
to DADs co-founder Joe
Kelly. He’s talking about
USA Today sports columnist
Christine Brennan’s memoir
“Best Seat in the House:
A Father, a Daughter,
a Journey Through Sports.”
“Anyone
who doubts the profound
impact of a dad or stepdad
on his daughter, or of
her impact on him, should
read this book,” Kelly
says. “So should everyone
who values and celebrates
the power of father-daughter
relationships.”
You may
purchase “Best Seat in
the House” at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743254368/sr=8-1/qid=1147375598/ref=sr_1_1/104-4486978-6255922?%5Fencoding=UTF8
.
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GIRLS,
SEX & PREGNANCY
Although
teen pregnancy and sexual
activity is declining
in the US,
one-third of sexually
active teen girls will
become pregnant, according
to a new report from the
National Campaign to Prevent
Pregnancy. NCPP analyzed
2002 data compiled by
the federal Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The
study found that 52 percent
of sexually active teenage
Latinas get pregnant,
compared to 40 percent
of sexually active black
teenage girls and 23 percent
of sexually active white
teenage girls.
Read
a Chicago Sun-Times story
on the report at
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-teen03.html.
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DADS
PULL MORE WEIGHT--WHEN
AWAKE
Thirty-eight
(38%) percent of fathers
say they do just as much
child rearing as their
child's mother, according
to a new poll by
InteractiveDad.com,
while nearly 14 percent
say they actually
do more than mom.
"I
think many dads now know
what moms figured out
years ago," says
InteractiveDad.com editor
Glenn Lawrence. "You
get back from your child
much more than you give.
And investing in your
child pays dividends big
time--in love and a bonding
relationship that for
years had exclusively
been between children
and their mothers."
However,
in most households, it
is Mom, not Dad, who wakes
up in the middle of the
night to care for a crying
baby, the poll shows.
A whopping 60 percent
of dads admit that
while they sleep, mom
rolls out of bed to comfort
children in the wee hours
of the night; 38 percent
of dads say they get up.
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SOUTHWEST
FATHERS INSTITUTE
Arizona
Fathers & Families
Coalition wants you to
"save the date"
of June 28, 2006 for their Southwestern
Regional Fatherhood &
Families Institute at
the United
Way
complex in Tucson.
For more information,
email info@azffc.org, jrodriguez@azffc.org
, or call at 800-603-9309.
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LGBT
SUICIDE RESOURCE
State
and national surveys indicate
that lesbian and gay teens
have a significantly higher
risk of attempting suicide
than their heterosexual
peers. But more help is
being made available,
geared especially towards
the needs of this group.
The wonderful online newsletter
Connect for Kids features
one of those efforts,
The Trevor Project, at
www.connectforkids.org/node/4120.
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VIDEOS
DON'T MAKE BABY BRAINY
On May
1, the Campaign for a
Commercial Free Childhood
(of which DADs is a member)
filed a complaint with
the Federal Trade Commission
against Baby Einstein
and Brainy Baby, two of
the leading producers
of videos for infants
and toddlers, claiming
false and deceptive advertising.
The complaint charges
that these companies violate
Section 5 of the Federal
Trade Commission Act by
marketing their videos
as educational for babies.
CCFC is asking the FTC
to prohibit Baby Einstein
and Brainy Baby from making
claims about the educational
and developmental benefits
of their videos and require
that advertisements, packaging
and websites for all baby
videos prominently display
the
American
Academy
of Pediatrics' recommendation
of no screen time for
children under age two.
The complaint
and supporting documents
are available at
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/ftccomplainthtm.
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GIRLS
& CELEBRITY WORSHIP
Girls
today are growing up in
a world where only two
percent of women describe
themselves as beautiful.
That’s why former teen
model and teen magazine
editor Audrey Brashich
wrote the new book “All
Made Up: A Girl’s Guide
to Seeing Through Celebrity
Hype and Celebrating Real
Beauty.” Law & Order
actress Mariska Hargitay
says the book “puts fame,
glamour and beauty in
perspective while encouraging
girls to feel good about
themselves exactly as
they are.
Order
a copy at
www.newmooncatalog.com/prodinfo.asp?number=B00-X19
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COACHING
BOYS INTO MEN
Men teach
boys how to hit a baseball,
hit the net, hit the receiver,
and much more. But are
we taking time to teach
boys that violence against
women and girls is wrong?
The Family Violence Prevention
Fund (FVPF), the Waitt
Institute and the Ad Council
have a new 30-second public
service advertisement
(PSA)
that invites men to do
just that, as part of
the Coaching Boys Into
Men campaign.
The effort
is working. A study by
Millward Brown, Inc. and
RMA, Inc. found a significant
increase in the proportion
of men who spoke to boys
about violence. Twenty-nine
percent said they had
done so in November of
2001, before Coaching
Boys Into Men launched,
and 41 percent had done
so in February of last
year. You can watch the
new English-language PSA
at
www.endabuse.org/cbim/.
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Remember:
Teach your daughter a
joke today!
Dads & Daughters
is the national advocacy
nonprofit for fathers
and daughters that works
to make the world safe
and fair for our daughters.
DADs is a registered Minnesota
and IRS 501(c) 3 nonprofit.
We’re at 2 W. First St.,
Suite 101, Duluth, MN
55802 USA. 1-218-722-3942.
Update copyright 2005.
Please reprint, but always
acknowledge the source
& website:
www.dadsanddaughters.org.
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